Always
by MrsGPotter2
Summary: How did Ginny react to Harry upon their reunion after Deathly Hallows? This story is my answer. Bit of sadness, laughter and love. Cannon compliant. First Fic! Please Read and Review! One-Shot


A/N: This story takes place a few hurs after chapter 36 of Deathly Hallows. I on NOTHING. This is my first story so enjoy!!

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As Harry awoke, he realized two things, one, he had not slept very long since judging by the light streaming through the curtains of his four poster bed it was late morning, which he confirmed by glancing at his watch, and two, he had an unimaginable desire to see Ginny. It was with this in mind that he rose from his bed, showered, and put on the clean clothes that Kreacher must have brought for him, and headed out of the portrait hole towards the Great Hall.

As he walked through the eerily quiet halls of Hogwarts, he reflected on the last year, and particularly the last few hours. He had done it, he had defeated Voldemort. The task that he was destined for, that which had consumed his entire wizarding life, was over. And the best part was that he had made it through to the other side alive. Now he was free to live his life as he chooses without this darkness looming over him. He was free to dream of a future, one that hopefully involved Ginny.

By this point he was standing outside the entrance to the Great Hall, and the loud buzzing coming from the other side told him that all of the people who stayed after the battle was over were in fact still there. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for the horde of people that would be waiting on the other side of the door, and quietly walked in.

As soon as the door closed behind him, the people gathered looked over and became silent. They stared at him, all looking to see what he would do, waiting for his next move. Nobody approached him, they just stared in silence. As he looked around the hall, he tried to ignore the staring faces in favor of looking for a large group of red heads, and one red head in particular.

He found them sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, in much the same positions as he had seen them hours before. Ginny still sat with her head on her mother's shoulder. As he walked closer to them, Ron finally looked up to him and smiled slightly. One by one, all of the Weasley's did the same. Finally, when he was still half way across the hall, Ginny looked up in interest at why the hall had suddenly become so quiet.

Upon catching each others eye, they both froze in their movements. Harry could see her sigh, and the smallest glimpse of a smile grace her features before returning once again to a face laced with sadness and exhaustion. Harry wanted his reunion with his family, he smiled at that thought, to be a private affair, not played out in front of the entire Great Hall, and so as Harry caught the gaze of the entire family, he slightly tilted his head towards the door, turned and walked back out of the hall. The Weasley's understood and immediately they all got up and followed him out. As he left, the entire hall burst into applause before he could get out the door and into the relative silence of the Entrance Hall.

He walked across the Entrance Hall and just waited for them there. He felt a slight twinge of nervousness as he waited. He was sure that he wanted Ginny back in his life as she was the previous year, but he was very unsure if she would take him back. After all, he had dumped her before leaving her for almost a year. Her life had gone on without him, and who knew if he could fit back into her life again.

Ron and Hermione were the first out of the Great Hall, followed by the entire Weasley family, and finally Ginny came last. He got a handshake from all the men, and a rib crushing hug from Mrs. Weasley. As she let go of him to start doting on Harry, he noticed Ginny still hanging in the rear of the group just watching him. He quietly interrupted Mrs. Weasley's rant about not eating enough with one word, "Ginny" that was barely over a whisper, but everyone head it.

Upon hearing this, the family turned to Ginny, and she took off at a run towards him. She ran to him and launched herself into his arms, surprising all those present with the exception of Ron and Hermione.

Harry caught her in a huge hug and spun her around a few times before finally setting her down. He looked straight into her eyes, and she into his, completely forgetting their audience. She slowly leaned up and wrapped her arms around his neck planting a soft, slow, meaningful kiss on his lips sharing all of the emotion and longing from the past ten months.

Again this shocked all those standing around watching with the exception of Ron and Hermione, (since only they knew Harry and Ginny dated) who had the shadow of a smile on their faces.

Suddenly, when the kiss broke apart, Ginny took a slight step back and her expression immediately changed from one of pure happiness to that of complete anger. As Harry noticed the change, and before he could respond in any way, she pulled back and smacked him across the face. Everyone stood in a stunned silence, as Ginny pulled back and hit him again across the other cheek. As her handprints were now emblazoned onto Harry's face, she began to punch his chest furiously. This seemed to snap everyone out of their daze and everyone moved forward to help at once, but Harry shook his head slightly and put his hand up to stop them from moving closer to him. He stood there taking the hits, waiting for her to say something, anything, and finally…

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU LEAVE ME WITHOUT SO MUCH OF A GOODBYE!!! THE LOVE OF MY LIFE RUNS OFF WITH MY BROTHER AND MY BEST FRIEND DOING ONLY DUMBLEDORE KNOWS WHAT MERLIN KNOWS WHERE WITHOUT EVEN A GOODBYE, AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ BACK HERE AND EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY!?!?!"

At the "love of her life" part every Weasley head shot up and it looked like their eyes would fall from their heads.

"YOU LEFT ME, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE! YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT YOU PASSED ME AS YOU WALKED INTO THAT FOREST?"

Harry visibly paled at this and the family looked saddened as they remembered the terror they felt when they realized he was gone.

"YEAH, I KNEW YOU WERE THERE AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN SAY GOODBYE THEN, AS YOU WALKED TO YOUR DEATH!!!!!

Her voice becoming strained now she continued. "I told myself that it couldn't have been you, that you knew that we would continue to fight and that you would not just give up on us. I knew as soon as I got back inside that it was in fact you, and I prayed that you would come to your senses before you ever found him. And then my worst fears came true when we heard Voldemort claiming that you were dead. When I saw you in Hagrid's arms, my heart was ripped from my chest and stomped on as Voldemort laid you at his feet."

By this point she was still hitting him, but she had dissolved into sobs as Harry just held her to his chest. The Weasley's though felling like they were very much intruding on a private moment, could not tear their eyes form the scene. They could only watch as Ginny poured her heart out, and Harry just smoothed her hair and held her, letting her get it all out. The brothers were all speechless; none of them have ever seen Ginny cry so much, if at all. Seeing her in so much pain was ripping their already saddened hearts out.

"Then you were gone and we started fighting again. We were not going to let you and…and Fred…die in vain. And then you were gone. When you reappeared I didn't want to believe it. I had just seen your dead body, how could you be alive now? And then it was over."

By this point she and Harry had slid down to be sitting on the floor with her still in his arms. She could no longer speak, and was just sitting there letting him comfort her with her family still watching. Harry thought it a miracle that nobody had walked out of the Great Hall yet, but he was thankful to be without the intrusion.

Harry decided that now was as good a time as any to speak. He wasn't going to tell them everything just yet, there would be time for that later, but he could put some of Ginny's fears to rest.

"I'm so sorry that we left like we did. It was not our intention to just leave like that, but when the Death Eaters arrived we didn't have much of a choice. If I had been found there, your punishment would have been so much worse, and we could never have accomplished the task Dumbledore left for us. As for why I didn't say goodbye on my way to the forest, I didn't because I knew I couldn't. I knew that I was walking to my death, and I also knew that if I stopped to say goodbye, I wouldn't be able to leave you again. You wouldn't have let me,"

"You're damn right about that," Ginny jumped in quietly.

"And I would not have been able to pull myself away, knowing I would never see you again. So, I continued on, and you know what? The last thing I thought about, just before the killing curse it me, was you Gin. The feel of your lips on mine was my last thought. When I died," shocked faces came at this admission from everyone, "I saw Dumbledore. And after we talked for a bit, he gave me the choice of moving on, and coming back. I knew then that even though I wanted to see my parents, Sirius, Remus and everyone else, I had to come back. I had to finish what I started, I had to kill him. I also had to come back for you."

At this, Ginny looked up at him with a look of such love, that he just had to lean down and kiss her. As the kiss began to get a bit more heated, Ron cleared his throat to remind them that they weren't alone. However the two never heard it and it wasn't until every male Weasley cleared their throat simultaneously, that Harry and Ginny remembered their audience. They blushed a violent red and stood up quickly, but Harry kept his arms around Ginny.

"See Harry, I always knew you were a Weasley at heart, look at that blush." George commented.

"Yeah, no wonder he doesn't have red hair, it's all in his cheeks!" Bill continued. This sent everyone into hysterics, except Harry who laughed while he blushed even redder.

"Hey Hermione, you're missing the red hair too, what do we have to say to get you to blush like that?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing. There is nothing you could say to get me to blush that red."

"Is that a challenge?" this question surprisingly coming from Percy.

"I can get them both," Harry said proudly. Everyone turned to him and Ron and Hermione gave him looks pleading him not to. "Sorry guys, but does everyone know what happened just as the battle began?" seeing everyone shaking their heads he continued, "Well Ron mentioned something about wanting to save the house elves, and Hermione dropped what was in her hand and flew into his arms, they started a right snog session until I butted in to remind them that there was a war going on." As if on cue the two in question turned beet red, and everyone else burst into laughter again. It felt good to laugh after so much loss, hurt and darkness.

After everyone settled down again, Harry said, "I want all of you to know what Ron, Hermione and I have been up to this year, but not now. Now is a time for family, and remembrance of those we lost."

"There is only one question I have for now, the rest can be answered later, if you don't mind Harry," Mr. Weasley asked.

"If I can answer it without going into everything that happened I will be more than happy to answer it."

"Why did you give yourself to Voldemort?"

Everyone looked to him for an answer, and Harry seemed conflicted for a minute. He wanted to answer the question, but there was so much more to the answer that he would have had to explain everything for it to make sense.

"Well sir," he started.

Seeing his conflicted face, Ginny jumped in with her own theory.

"Because he's a stupid noble git who does stupid noble things like that."

"Hey!" Harry said looking down at her.

"But you're my stupid noble git," She amended.

"Always love."

And with that, everyone smiled as Harry and Ginny came together again for a chaste kiss.

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A/N: Please Read and Review. This is my first story so let me know how I did. Thanks!


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